At the risk of sounding like a typical girl....

 

Okay guys can someone please explain to this girl exactly what and how a strut brace actually does anything??? To me it doesnt look as though it could do much but i am eager to be edumacated....

Edited October 12, 200520 yr by Rolln16

it reduces chassis flex under hard cornering loads, by tieing the front (or rear) strut tops together.

 

unless you corner hard there is no real benefit....apart from looks.

 

personally i'd spend money in other places like suspension and tyres first. when chassis flex actually becomes a problem then invest in them.

Okay - so it is in other words just a brace to support the chassis from rolling like when you have a gate you put a cross member in it to reduce flex....

pretty much.

 

it doesn't as such prevent the chassis rolling. it helps to reduce chassis twist or flex as you said, to maintain the same distance between the strut tops at all times.

Okay...thats cool - i knew a bit more about it than i thought i did...

it also depends on the car

stick one on an otherwise stock ep82 starlet, which has no swaybars at all, and it makes a crapload of difference

i really don't think they make to much of a difference. if the strut towers were to move excessively, wouldn't the bonnet contact the insides of the tops of the guards?

does on a starlet, shrug

i really don't think they make to much of a difference. if the strut towers were to move excessively, wouldn't the bonnet contact the insides of the tops of the guards?

Yes, they do.

 

I've actually found they make a reasonable difference on , well, at least the 25.

yes, but you are belting the shit out of yours on dirt roads and really actually need them....

Good point... :lmao:

going on with the topic, at what point does one "need" a strut brace then?

 

driving around on the street, no.

a bit of spirited mountain driving for enjoyment, perhaps.

i'd say if one was getting into amateur level motorsport or weekend sprints or something where you're trying to improve the car and measure the difference you make, then that's reasonable to say a properly constructed strut brace could be of noticeable benefit

That fits. If you're going to do the odd bit of motorsport, I think they're a good investment.

i think i am just used to the smaller stiffer chassis of my ke15. the steel in it is at least twice as thick as that of my nova (ae92). also it has built in strut braces, tieing the struttops to the firewall.

 

actually the ke15 is way stiffer chassis wise compared to the 2 door ke30 i used to own. in the ke30, if you stuck your finger tip in the gap between the top of the door frame and the roof gutter, and drove into a driveway or something, it would pinch your finger.

Edited October 12, 200520 yr by Felix

good point that

 

my mate matt reckons he could hear the doors hitting the frames in his vs commodore. they don't really have a chassis to speak of either, they're like a big ke30, but worse